Manteno wrestling coach killed in accident while jogging

A beloved Manteno High School teacher was struck and killed by a car early Tuesday morning while he was jogging on a Kankakee County road, officials said.

Cory Blanchette, 37, who also served as a wrestling coach at the school, was in the southbound lane of East Road when the driver, a 21-year-old Dolton man driving a 1997 Chevy Monte Carlo struck him, said Kankakee County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken McCabe.

The crash occurred near the intersection of 3000 East road and 9500 North Road in unicorporated Manteno at around 6:10 a.m., said McCabe.

No citations have been lodged in the accident but police said they are continuing to investigate. Both the driver and Blanchette were alone at the time of the crash.

School officials said Blanchette began working at Manteno High School since 2006, according the Manteno School District Superintendent Dawn Russert.

Blanchette began his career at the school as an assistant wrestling coach and an assistant football coach, later becoming the head wrestling coach. Last year, he also began teaching in the high school’s math program, said Russert said.

“It’s been a very difficult day for the whole district family,” she said.

Russert said that Blanchette served as a role model and mentor to the students. Earlier this year he organized a group of students to make sympathy cards for the family of a former student, who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

“It just speaks to the extra effort that he poured into everything that he did,” she said.

The district cancelled evening school activities today, she said. Counselors were available for students this week.

He is a graduate of Trinity Christian College in Palos Hills according to the Mateno High School’s website.

"The impact that I can make on the lives of our young men is what motivates me daily," Blanchette wrote on the school's website.

He also noted that he had been married to his wife Alisa and "we have four beautiful children who are or will be Panthers in the near future!"